Brave New World Ch. 9: Love, Lust, and the Right to Say No | Banned Books Comedy

Lenina crashes on a Soma holiday while Bernard hatches a plan... and John breaks into her room in a lovesick spiral that’s equal parts Shakespearean and creepy. Robot fact-checks the chaos, Jennifer calls out Huxley’s lazy racism, and Dan coins “the shark rule” for slur warnings. 

Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter—we don’t read ahead, so you’re discovering the story with us.

Things to Listen For

• Bernard pulls bureaucratic strings to bring John and Linda back to London.
• Jennifer and Dan stop the show to unpack Huxley’s use of octoroon—and create the “shark-sound” content warning rule.
• Robot clarifies the racial slur with historical context and dry precision.
• John sneaks into Lenina’s room, sniffs her clothes, and wrestles with desire vs. decency.
• Jennifer insists John’s restraint is the real rebellion; Dan… gets weirdly good at guessing underwear scenes.

Why Was Brave New World Banned?

Huxley’s dystopia has been banned for sexual content, drug use, and “anti-family values.” This chapter hits every nerve—lust, control, and what happens when pleasure replaces morality. It’s the moment censors love to clutch their pearls over.

Banworthy to Bingeworthy

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Disclaimer

Banned Camp features readings and discussions of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley for criticism, commentary, education, and entertainment under fair use.
We strongly encourage listeners to purchase a copy here to experience the novel in full.

Banned Camp is not affiliated with Huxley or his publishers. Any monetization is independent of the copyrighted material discussed.

Topics Covered

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, Chapter 9, John the Savage, Lenina Crowne, Bernard Marks, Mustafa Mond, book banning, censorship, literary analysis, comedy podcast

And don’t miss out on the Halloween Spooktacular on friday, Halloween day!  Specuial guest reader Liz Gotauco will read from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark -- a book so scary it was literally banned.